I wanted to post this in the "Photo's" thread but it was understandably locked for going off-topic; so maybe I can start a new one.
I am sure I was not alone to be amused when I saw members beings described as "morron's". Previously, I had been mildly irritated by the use of the apostrophe where none belonged but I am aware I can be terribly pedantic over such things, and, well, annoying; so I said nothing.
But does that kind of thing bother you as much as it does me? I think it's the willful ignorance that irritates me so. There really is no excuse these days. We all write emails and posts and whatever else pretty much every day. We all make typos and genuine mistakes but to me peppering your correspondence with child-like errors is just laziness and lacking in respect for the person doing the reading.
And don't even get me started on the '8 Items or less' sign! I am sure they do it to on purpose!
Richard (being pedantic).
Well i don't care about spelling punctuation or grammer
Because i'm DYSLEXIC and proud of it :P
Richard AKA Screwtape, you are clearly the man to help me here.
I feel we may have a situation...
Take the following example for a fictitious person:
John Davies is concerned over tomorrow's forecast for snow in London because...
1) John Davies' car is not easy to drive on slippery roads
or should it be:
2) John Davies's car is not easy to drive on slippery roads.
According to my basic knowledge of English grammar, sentence 1 is correct, but I have received letters from authorities where they have used sentence 2.
My question is thus: does one leave the "s" after the apostrophe if the preceding word is a person's name that ends in "s"?
I beg to differ - I quoted Screwtape directly by using his spelling of "willful". Had I paraphrased and applied my own correct spelling of 'wilful', I would have used the single indirect quotation mark as you say.